After farewelling Norway we headed to Scotland for the next leg of the journey:
Shetland – we arrived in Lerwick, the only town in the archipelago of 100 islands of which 16 are currently inhabited. Much of the circa 22000 population live in Lerwick although there are other smaller scattered settlements, the largest being Scalloway.
Scalloway is where the Shetland Bus operated from that JR referred to in the previous post, an undercover fishing boat operation that ferried resistance fighters, refugees, weapons, explosives and supplies to and from Nazi occupied Norway – including the towns of Telavåg and Alesund. Scalloway has a museum dedicated to the operation and strong ties continue between the two with Shetland celebrating Norway National Day every May.
We did a bus tour to one of the small settlements about 22 kms south of Lerwick and from there took a boat trip over to Mousa Island, operated by a father and son team who have strong family links to the island.
Mousa Island was an easy and pleasant ramble around sheep country that was once home to 11 families (70 people). Today the key attraction is an Iron Age round tower (called a broch) probably built around 300 BC. There are 500 such brochs built across Scotland and this one is considered the biggest and best preserved. There were also the ruins of the laird’s homestead, lots of birds (storm petrels are an evening attraction during the summer), seal sightings, and heather and bog cotton to keep it interesting.
Back in Lerwick we enjoyed a fish and chip lunch from ‘The Chippie’, before walking around the old town to see which sites we could recognise from the Shetland BBC crime drama series. Jimmy Perez’s home, Lodberrie, was an easy one and we took the obligatory photographs (as per above). We were pleased to hear from a local who provides security services to visiting tourists (us!) and film crews that they are still filming.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is a city of oil workers, students and golfers. 25% of Aberdeen residents are currently employed by the oil industry but there is a concerted effort to transition this reliance on oil to jobs in hydrogen production and renewables. 22% of the population are students attracted to Aberdeen’s comparatively cheap rent about 500 pounds a month (Edinburgh can be three times that). And the golfing enthusiasts (I don’t have the %) have a choice of 55 courses in the city and shire, to service the population of 230,000.
I did a bus tour of the key architectural sites including the university and church. At the beach I went down to the water’s edge but wasn’t as brave as the 20 or so very pale folk enjoying a dip. The promenade was full of various food and coffee vans and being a Saturday the area was busy with happy walkers and even happier dogs.
Further along the beachfront I found the former fishing village of Fittee which was built in 1809 around two village squares designed to protect against the North Sea winds and to foster community spirit. It has been added to over the years and when the fishing families left, artists and other creatives moved in. It reminded me of property investment advice that I once received – ‘follow the artists and gypsies.’ The cottages, outhouses, sheds and gardens are now very colourful and quirky with individual approaches taken to their restoration. The occasional ramshackle ones added a touch of authenticity and with the common green spaces retained it seems the strong sense of community remains. I thought I’d rather like to live there but I’d want to hand pick my neighbours.
The city is currently abuzz with planning to host the tall ships races which will see 50 ships race, during July. Our morning tour guide was proud that her 15-year-old daughter was participating this year despite having never sailed before. When we were in Shetland a few days earlier we saw their tall boat leaving to participate. It seems to be something that bonds a number of communities in this part of the world and again, there is a strong focus on how to pass on values and skills to younger people – beyond the classroom.
Edinburgh is a city we’ve visited a few times and so we didn’t feel a need to join the queues at the castle and whisky tasting places. It was a beautiful 22 degrees celsius so after a bus tour of the outer lying sites we enjoyed a ‘no pressure’ day walking the streets and exploring the closes*, sitting on the grass under a tree in Princess St gardens, seeing if we could find any graves in the Greyfriars cemetery that inspired JK Rowling’s Harry Potter characters (apparently this is where she found the names of Potter, McGonagal, Scrimgeour and others) and sharing an ale at a pub in the Grassmarket. *Closes are alleyways in Scotland – and by memory we have some in Dunedin, NZ.
The Orkney Islands was a special stop for me because there is a high Orcadian population in the area I come from in Central Otago including the family of my paternal grandmother, Mary Anderson, who on marriage became Mary Moran, my namesake. Like many Orcadians her father had worked for the Hudson Bay Trading Company as well as on whaling boats before trying his luck in New Zealand. It felt like being ‘back home’ seeing the familiar farming family names, Cloustons, Leiths, Leasks, Corrigals and many more.
I’d engaged a private tour guide with a deep knowledge of Orcadian genealogy and social history. We had a great day which combined seeing the regular Orkney attractions with tailored activities including visiting the original family farm, the family graves, meeting a couple of long lost relatives and having lunch in the guide’s home – built on a hill where my great grandfather walked up to his school every day. We slowly shared our sandwiches and a pot of the best leaf tea I’ve ever tasted looking out over that hill. It was a day that words can’t easily capture but I’ll go back to it in my memories and I’m pleased JR came along and enjoyed it too.
Ullapool is a village on the western side of the highlands, founded as a herring port in 1788 and still to this day, a very pretty place, white houses with blue-grey trim established in a planned grid pattern. 1500 folk call the area home.
We did a bus trip through the surrounding countryside of Assynt, more rugged than the eastern side of the Highlands. Highlights included a beef and ale pie with a spectacular pie crust in the village of Lochinver, a few ruins, the occasional deer sighting and many photo stops with steep mountains, lochs, and the flowering bell heather with its purple hue all making for a very scenic drive. Any budding geologists would find the area fascinating as it is where they’ve been able to prove ‘tectonic plate thrusting’ and other such theories probably not travel blog material.